Integrity from Kings and Carters Views - Literature review Example

Integrity from King’s and Carter’s Views The Letter from Birmingham Jail written by Martin Luther King Jr. appears to be the very fabric of Stephen Carter’s three steps to integrity articulated in the book Integrity. Of course, this does not imply that Carter mainly uses King as his guiding principle in formulating his definition of integrity; probably King is one of the many people with genuine integrity that Carter viewed in order for him to establish the three steps to integrity. Perhaps if King is alive today, he would read Carter’s definition of integrity based from his own experience and mental framework. It is interesting to note that Carter’s Integrity sounds like King’s integrity; his three steps of integrity are categories that justify King’s integral life. It is uncertain, nevertheless, if King would agree to Carter’s three steps, particularly the third step. There are problems inherent in Carter’s “saying openly.” King would generally view or interpret Carter’s integrity based largely from his own life and belief system. Reading King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail, the three steps of integrity expounded by Carter appear to be in harmony with King’s thoughts, actions, and expressions. Of the three categories of integrity, King’s integrity through his letter is justified as articulated in Carter’s third step: “saying openly that you are acting on your understanding of right from wrong” (Carter 7). Carter admits that the third step is the most difficult part of attaining integrity or an integral life. He argues that the present-day American individual will do everything merely for the sake of social acceptance. Conversely, Carter’s integrity requires a person to say openly on the reason for his or her action, even at the expense of personal interest. This is what King did; he expresses openly to a group of people -- namely, the religious clergymen -- about the reason for his action (i.e., peaceable assembly). The open letter as a form of “saying openly” signifies a mark of a person with integrity. Contained in the letter, King speaks up about the motive or cause for taking the demonstration at Birmingham. He considers the action as historically and socially grounded. King had thought about it deeply before he -- together with his brothers and sisters who are black Americans like himself -- went to the streets in expressing his sentiments concerning the prevalence of racism in the country. By and large, King would view or interpret Carter’s definition of integrity based from his contemplative, active, and writing life. In Carter’s view, on the other hand, King’s thoughts, actions, and sayings fit well to his integrity paradigm. In the first step to integrity, Carter explains that an integral life requires the person’s “discerning what is right and what is wrong” (7). To discern or think about what is good and what is not is a prerequisite for an integral life. With respect to the first step outlined by Carter, King is a contemplative person. He contemplates on the things or ideas that are relevant to his life as a person in general and as an African American in particular. In his letter, it is apparent that King has made several thinking concerning the existence of racism characterized in segregation. He has cited many and varied experiences, all of them are ugly, of the black community within the white-dominated society. For one thing, King mentions about the signboards and other displays in the grocery stores that contain an anti-black message. The most touching of the numerous examples presented in the letter is when an African American child asks his father why “white people treat colored people so mean” (King). King has discerned deeply and even philosophically before he takes his action to the streets. In the second step to integrity, Carter states that a person with integrity has to act based from what he or she has discerned, even at “personal cost” (7). From King’s letter alone, Carter would say that this man is a man of integrity. King has transformed his thought into action, from word to flesh. In spite of the threat to personal safety and freedom, Martin Luther King Jr. showed himself to the streets -- together with his brothers and sisters -- in protest to the racism widespread in white America. To my mind, King would agree to Carter’s first two steps to integrity, especially the second one. First and foremost, King is a man of action. He does not only think or contemplate, King also acts according to the thoughts that he has made. King is convinced that the black community has been waiting for hundreds of years -- for a very long time -- before they gather their strengths to fight, in peaceful and lawful manner, against America’s racism. Using his knowledge of black history and racial oppression, King is persuaded that it is ripe to take action in the struggle against black-and-white segregation. As to Carter’s “saying openly,” it is uncertain whether or not King will agree to this category as a prerequisite for an integral life. With respect to King’s integrity, such step to integrity is plausible. However, for those people who have no capacity to speak up their minds -- although they have “integrity” -- it is far from possible for them to have an integral life based from Carter’s third step to integrity. For example, those African Americans, excluding King, who participated in the 1960s Birmingham demonstration, could not be considered as people with integrity merely for the reason that they failed to say openly why they did what they did. This is the dilemma of Carter’s third step: the problem inherent in mass demonstration. There were thousands of black Americans who joined the peaceful rally at Birmingham, yet, these Americans were unable to speak or express their minds -- unlike King -- because of the sheer number of people who participated in it. In King’s letter, moreover, he confesses openly that he could not answer all the criticisms that his critics throw against him because, in responding to all these criticisms, that would result to nonconstructive work. In general, King’s integrity is consistent with Carter’s categories of integrity; applying these categories to millions of people, however, is problematic. Works Cited Carter, Stephen L. Integrity. New York: Basic Books, 1996. Print. King, Martin Luther. “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” African Studies Center, University of Pennsylvania. African Studies Center, University of Pennsylvania, n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2011. Read More